The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $5,250 Championship completed its third day of play last night. An original field of 887 entries was whittled down to just nine players who are set to face each other at the official final table later today.
Day 3 saw poker pro Aaron Mermelstein lead 30 players into action. Mermelstein began the day with commanding advantage over his remaining opponents. The player strove fiercely to retain his lead and he delivered on that goal. By the time there were only nine players left at the poker tables of Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, Mermelstein had accumulated a stack of 6.15 million. In comparison, Yi Chi Li, the player who bagged and tagged the second largest stack, will enter the final table with 4.555 million in chips.
Aside from Joe Kuether, who is set to begin that final stage of play as the short stack with just 565,000, all other remaining participants are quite deep-stacked, which absolutely promises quality action. The average stack for Day 4 of play will be around 74 big blinds when Championship action kicks off at the host venue.
Play is set to resume from Level 24. Last night the clock was stopped when Oddie Dardon was eliminated in 10th place for $61,303, with approximately 15 minutes left from the level. The nine remaining players will return at Seminole Hard Rock Casino at noon Florida time.
Each of the nine finalists is guaranteed a minimum payout of $75,413. The winner will take home the total amount of $754,083 and the tournament trophy. Last year, Jason Koon was the player to emerge victorious in the Championship event, winning $1 million for his effort. Koon topped a field of 847 entries, facing Seth Davies heads-up. Davies’ eventual runner-up finish won him $575,000.
The $5,250 Championship is part of the so-called The Big 4 – a set of four events on the schedule of this year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open festival that collectively feature a guaranteed prize pool of $6.5 million. The Championship alone offered guaranteed $3 million in prize money. However, the great interest in the prestigious tournament swelled the prize pool to over $4 million.
The $2,650 No-Limit Hold’em Freeze-Out with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool, the $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry with a $500,000 guarantee, and the $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller Re-Entry with a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million are the other three tournaments to be included in The Big 4. All four tournaments are set to be completed today.
Here it is interesting to note that Kuether, who as mentioned above will take part in the Championship’s final table, had also secured a seat into the final table of the $1,100 tournament.
